To the Editor:

I would like to thank all of the service and non-profit organizations in Newtown who have had me as their guest speaker at their various meetings to explain what Newtown’s Beautiful Baby Contest is all about.

For those who aren’t members of these organizations, The Beautiful Baby Contest is a fun and friendly competition to help raise funds for a wounded soldier to receive a handicap house through the Homes For Our Troops national nonprofit. One hundred percent of the money raised by the contest is donated. I am only a volunteer organizer. It is a photo contest for children newborn to four years of age, not a live pageant. For all you grandparents, the winning baby does not need to live in Newtown.

The winning baby and their family is featured in the Newtown Labor Day Parade by riding in a chauffeur-driven convertible provided by Mercedes of Danbury, behind a banner that reads “Beautiful Baby Winner.” The public votes for the cutest baby with checks or dollars inserted through a piggybank slit above each photo displayed on the voting booth. The winner is determined by which child’s photo has raised the most amount of money for charity. Stuffing the ballot box is encouraged!

2016’s Beautiful Baby Contest for the first time will be raising funds for a Connecticut solider. Twenty-two year-old Army Ranger Sean Pesce was shot 13 times. He has damage to several major organs and one of the bullets severed his spine. SPC Pesce is now permanently paralyzed from the waist down.

It’s only $10 to enter a child’s photo in the Beautiful Baby Contest. Please email babycontest2010@gmail.com or call 203 270-8017 for more information. Please feel free to contact me if you would like me to speak at one of your meetings or if you would like to help raise funds for this worthy cause.

Lois Barber

33 Zoar Road, Sandy         January 25, 2016